By Mojo Hill
Photo by Cameron Carlson
The Devils Lake hockey team will be hosting a playoff game after all.
Instead of a first-round EDC tournament game, though, it’ll be a play-in contest to get into that tournament.
The Firebirds lost on the road to Grafton/Park River on Thursday, 4-2. It was their 10th loss in their last 11 games. Fargo Shanley, meanwhile, beat Fargo North 9-3, moving up to sixth place with 18 points in the EDC standings.
Devils Lake is at 16 points with no EDC games left. So, the Firebirds are the No. 7 seed, meaning they’ll face No. 10 May-Port Area in a play-in game Feb. 14. The winner gets to face No. 2 Grand Forks Red River in the first round of EDC on Feb. 17.
G/PR, as the No. 8 seed, will host a play-in game the same day as Devils Lake, facing No. 9 seed West Fargo. The winner of that game will play No. 1 Grand Forks Central.
The Firebirds’ overall record fell to 8-12 with Thursday’s loss. They had started the year 7-2. They finished their regular-season EDC slate with five wins and 11 losses (including one overtime loss).
The game followed an oddly similar pattern as Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to Fargo Davies. In both games, the Firebirds took a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes, then allowed four unanswered goals in an eventual 4-2 loss.
Against G/PR on Thursday, in Grafton, Nash Riggin scored for Devils Lake at 1:45 in the first period. It was his sixth goal of the season, with assists from Kole Thomson and Braxton Boline.
At 5:49, Carson Hogness scored his fifth goal of the season. He had assists from Hayden Volk and Riggin. Once again, the Firebirds led 2-0. They looked to be on their way to ending a three-game losing streak.
Instead, Devils Lake never found the net again. G/PR scored goals at the 10:59 and 11:48 marks in the first period to tie it up. The Spoilers went ahead with a Noah Troftgruben goal at 5:26 in the second period.
G/PR scored an empty-net goal with three seconds left in the game to take the contest 4-2.
The Spoilers had four power plays in the first two periods but didn’t score on any of them.
Devils Lake only had two power plays, both in the third period.
The Firebirds had the advantage in shots on goal, with 36 compared to G/PR’s 20. Devils Lake goalie Matt Graue accumulated 17 saves.
It was only the second EDC win of the season for the Spoilers. Devils Lake had previously beaten them 6-0 on Jan. 5. G/PR’s only other EDC win was a 5-2 victory over a struggling West Fargo team.
The Firebirds’ 4-3 win over West Fargo on Jan. 27 is the only thing keeping them from an 11-game losing streak right now.
“It’s just about getting better,” Devils Lake head coach Landyn Swenson said after Tuesday’s loss to Davies. “Put ourselves in an opportunity, come EDC. I think we’re going to be a very tough team. We’ll get a couple guys back; key guys. We’re going to make a run for it. We’re going to do whatever we can and in our own power in order to get there. And so it should be fun.”
The Firebirds now have to play one more game than they had likely expected.
The team will try to regroup after a season that featured a promising start and a tough second half.
“We’ve gone through a lot this year,” Swenson said on Feb. 3. “Couple guys out for injuries, or whatever the case was. … We don’t have a ton of guys to really choose from, which kind of sucks. But at the same time, the guys we have, I’ll take them instead of anyone in the state. We’re going to compete every single day.”
It’s all about May-Port Area now. The Firebirds will host the Ice Dawgs for a previously scheduled regular-season game on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
It’s the last regular-season game for Devils Lake and has no bearing on the EDC standings. May-Port Area competes in the EDC postseason tournament but doesn’t play an EDC schedule, making it the automatic No. 10 before the season even begins.
After a relatively meaningless game Tuesday, though, the Firebirds will host the Ice Dawgs again on Saturday, Feb. 14, for a game that matters quite a bit. The game time is set for 1 p.m. The winner goes to the EDC tournament, while the loser’s season is done.
The Firebirds were in the same situation two years ago. They beat Grafton-Park River 3-1 that year to move on to EDC.
May-Port Area has an 11-7 record this season playing mostly non-EDC teams, including some from Minnesota.
Hockey News